So Zack says he found several rat nests and access points in my bedroom when he opened the walls. And rat turds everywhere. Have I mentioned that when I had an allergy test after my one and only full-on asthma attack, the only thing in the whole battery I responded to was rat epithelial tissue, and I responded plus four: which means immediate hives ( Read more... )

I read somewhere that Franz Kafka thought he was writing comedies and was dismayed that people didn't laugh when they read his books, and that Jaroslav Hasek thoughthe was writing tragedies and was dismayed when people did laugh ( Read more... )

Wrote: half the last chapter of the romantic comedy, and a chapter of the thing about the guy who is at one with the water system and enmeshed in a political struggle he doesn't understand and doesn't want to care about until people start threatening him ( Read more... )

Today, in the front yard ( Read more... )

teacher junk under the house.  Teacher junk in the eaves.  Teacher junk out my ears ( Read more... )

I always tell people I deal with I have a narrow driveway ( Read more... )

So when I say storage shed for rent, what comes to mind?  Something aluminum with a regular sized door, right?

What I have is a solid steel miniature ship container complete with a loop on top for a cargo hook.  I didn't trim the neighbor's bottlebrush enough so the shed had to be dropped in the driveway and pushed.  It kicked up dirt as it went and ( Read more... )

This afternoon we're I'm getting in a rental storage shed and Friday a dumpster.  So yesterday and today, with a bit of help from a couple of friends, I pruned the apple tree and the rose that grows in it back to nine feet off the ground where the shed will sit: ditto the neighbor's bottlebrush tree that mostly grows over the driveway: cleared all ( Read more... )

Frank sends me snippets of news from time to time, usually about the US and not about Czech Republic. But he sent me links about this thing.

Briefly, about 600 people joined a demonstration by the "Worker's Party" which is a right-wing nativist outfit to march into a housing area populated by Roma. They carried signs, rocks, and "petrol bombs" ( ( Read more... )

It took several tries and a fair amount of money all around, but Frank got his vote counted ( Read more... )